Judicial custody for blast accused

The police found that Shoaib had attempted to obtain a fake passport for Sameer, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative.

A court in Hyderabad on Monday remanded Shoaib Jagirdar, who was arrested in connection with a blast at the historic Mecca Masjid, in judicial custody for 14 days for attempting to obtain a fake passport.

Shoaib, a 52-year-old butcher and native of Jalna in Maharshtra, was produced before the Nampally Criminal Court, which sent him to judicial custody. He was later shifted to the Chanchalguda Central Jail. He was arrested in Jalna on Friday. Though no evidence was found linking him to the May 18 blast, the police found during investigation that he attempted to obtain a fake passport for Sameer, a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative. He allegedly visited Hyderabad in February this year along with Sameer alias Nayeem.

Sameer was arrested along with three other LeT operatives in West Bengal while crossing India-Bangladesh border in April this year. He is in judicial custody in Mumbai. A case under the Passport Act has been registered against Shoaib, who was subjected to intense interrogation by Special Investigation Cell (SIC).

The blast at the 17th century mosque during Friday prayers had claimed 11 lives while five people died in the subsequent police firing on protesters outside the mosque. Three more bombs were found and defused in the mosque premises.

Shoaib's arrest was initially seen as the first breakthrough and police sources had even claimed that he transported RDX to Hyderabad for the blasts.